- All right, this is lesson number 9, in the book of Ephesians, I would ask you to open your Bibles if you have them, chapter
four of verse one, Paul, in one verse, he
does this very well, in one verse he summarizes
the three chapters, the three preceding
chapters of this letter. And so, he summarizes what he's said in three chapters, and
also, uses this first verse in chapter four as a turning point in order to establish the context of the balance of the letter. So, let's read chapter four, verse one. He says: I therefore,
the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which
you have been called. So, in this verse, he reaches back to summarize everything
he has already said. He's prayed that God enable the Ephesians to experience and grow in appreciation of the blessings that they have in Christ, he reminds them of God's
great love in saving them, especially the Gentiles, when they were completely
separated from God, and he also explains that God, Himself, called them and now uses them to reveal His plan, both
to angels and to men. So, Paul's going to
continue in the chapter by saying that since
these things are true... What things? Well, that all the blessings of heaven have been given to them, that both Jews and Gentiles were saved by the mercy of God, that God is now using them to reveal the truth to others. Since all these things are true and all these things have
been done on their behalf, therefore, they should live in such a way that these truths become evident to other people through them. So, the obligations of this new life, this life as the Church of Christ, are then explained in the
balance of this letter. Because all of this is true, how ought you to be? That's kind of the fulcrum, that's how he shifts
from one to the other, here, in chapter four, verse one. So, last week, we looked at the first of these obligations: How should you live because all these things are true? Last week, we looked at
the first obligation, which was to maintain the unity that Christ has established. If all this is true, how ought you to be? You ought to work at maintaining unity. Christ established this unity by creating and drawing
to Himself the Church, which would become united
to God through Him. I mean, we say the words,
we say those words, but it's hard to get your mind completely around that idea. Christ enabled the Church
to maintain this unity by providing apostles, and prophets, and evangelists, and
pastors, and teachers. Why? To help the Church mature
in the knowledge of, and the service to Christ and one another. So, how ought you to live? You ought to maintain this unity that Christ created, the unity that's in the Godhead must also be the unity that's between brothers and sisters, between the Church and Christ. You ought to work to maintain that. And Paul says: And God
gives to the Church, gifts, to help the Church
do that very thing. And what are those gifts? Prophets, apostles, elders,
teachers, evangelists. Now, the basis of this unity was expressed in the seven elements that every individual
member of the Church shares with every other member of the Church, regardless of culture or time. Remember, last week, we talked about the difference between
unity and conformity? Conformity is: everything's the same, all the widgets are created,
all the ball bearings, in a certain machine, are
exactly the same size, same weight, same resistance. That's important in engineering. But in the Church, unity
does not mean conformity. It means we equally share the same things. And so, Paul tells the Church what it is that they share, upon which things are based the unity that we have. And so, he says each member
equally shares the same body. In other words, everybody equally shares the Body of Christ. There's no preferred place in the Body. The hand is not more
important than the eye, and the foot is not more
important than the arm. Everyone shares the Body equally. They all share the same Spirit. Everyone receives exactly the same Spirit when they come into Christ. They all share the same hope. Everyone looks forward to the same heaven in the Body of Christ. They share the same Lord. All are subject to Jesus only. You go to any church, you go to any church of Christ, anywhere in the world, and when they pray, they are praying in the name of Jesus. And that word, Jesus, may be different in different languages,
but it's the same Lord. They share the same faith. In other words, they
teach the same things, the teachings of the apostle. They continue steadfastly in the teachings of the apostles, Acts 2:42. They share the same baptism. Each experience the
same immersion in water for the same reasons, and
they share the same Father. All call on the God of creation, the God of Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob, the God who sent Jesus,
that's the God that we share. And so, he has said, we
talked about this last week, the pursuit of these elements of unity is the first obligation of the Church because this is what
keeps it part of Christ, that we share the same Lord, that we share the same faith, that we share the same baptism, that we share the same hope, that we share, that we share these things, and we share them equally. This is the working out
of our unity in Christ. We have church at different times, different kind of buildings, some put the songs before the communion, and some after the communion. Those are not the basis of unity. All right, so that's the first obli-- If God has done this for you, then the first obligation
is to maintain this unity. The second obligation,
that Paul speaks of, is the need to be righteous and holy. The Church is holy because God is holy. The Church is righteous
because God is righteous. To be righteous and holy means that you conduct yourself
in a particular way, you react to things in a particular way. Parents can relate to this. How many of you, as parents, have said, to your children, at one time or another, "Well, that doesn't fly in this house. "That's not the way we do it here." How many of you, as parents, have either said, or as children, if you can remember back,
your parents saying to you, "You're not over at your friend's house. "You're in this house, now, "and that's not the way we talk here. "You don't talk to your
mother like that," or, "You don't answer, that's not
the way we do things here." So, it's kind of that same spirit. If these things are
true, then there's a way that you act, there's a way
that you live in this Body. And so, we pick it up, now,
in verse 17 of chapter four. He says: This I say,
therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. So, Paul begins explaining
this idea with a comparison. He says that Christians do
not act like non-Christians. And sometimes that's a problem. We have someone in our family, or someone that's close to us who is a non-Christian,
and we're disappointed when they don't act like Christians. A lot of times, when I have study with a couple, or something like that, and maybe the husband, or the wife, that person is a member of the Church and their partner is not
a member of the Church, and they're so disappointed that the person doesn't want to come to church, or that the person is not
zealous to walk righteously. And I said, "Well, they're not Christians. "Christ is not the focus of their life. "They might be nice people,
they might do good things, "may be a good spouse, so and so forth, "but they're not motivated by the Spirit. "Why expect them to live
and act like Christians "when they're not?" So, Paul is talking about a comparison between Christians and non-Christians and he's saying to the Christians at Ephesus, "Now that God
has done all these things, "because these things are true, "you should walk in a righteous manner. "And let me tell you what
that righteous manner is." And he does it in negative terms. The non-Christians, the pagans, they walk, or they live according to what is in their minds, or to
what they've learned. The problem is that what is in their minds is vain and will not
lead them to salvation, no matter how long they live. Because they lack the
knowledge of the Truth, their walk is characterized
by several things. And Paul names these: misunderstanding, I'm not talking about misunderstanding of scientific laws, the misunderstanding of the law of gravity or something, no, a misunderstanding of spiritual laws, how things work in the Spirit, godlessness, ignorance, hard hearts. He's talking about people
who really don't care about what is good. He says they are sensual in nature, sexually impure, and the
never-ending appetite for more. That's what greed is. Greed is not having a lot,
I know a lot of people who are righteous Christians
and they have a lot, they're wealthy; greed
is there's never enough. I mean, I've net poor
people who are greedy because no matter what they
have, it's never enough. And in this case, he's
talking about greedy for more evil, more things. This is, he says, the
substance of their lives. And he tells the Ephesians,
"This isn't your life, "because of all the
things that God has done, "surely, this is not your life." And so, he goes on, in verse 20, he says: But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him
and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your
former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in
the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self,
which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness and the truth. So, the comparison is to
the Christian's mind now. He says, "Don't do like this,
this is what the pagans do; "do like this, this is
what Christians do." The one who is a member of Christ's Church has his mind full of the word of God. Because he, or she, thinks this way, having been taught by the
one faith, by the way, he has escaped the consequences of the Gentile walk, which is corruption, which is death. He says, "Hey, you who've been saved, "you were almost dead,
and you were plucked "out of the fire and put
into the kingdom of God." Now, because he thinks this way, having been taught by the one faith, as I said, he's escaped
the consequences of death. His walk, because of this knowledge, is holy, and just, and true. Remember, it's not about what you know, it's about how you apply what you know. So, because he has been transformed by the one Lord, the one
Spirit, the one hope, his manner of walking has
also been transformed. It's not complicated. So, the image is of one removing an old beggar's coat, that
identifies you as such, and putting on a prince's cloak that completely transforms how you feel about yourself and how others see you and feel about you. I guess, a comparison
to this is these shows, these makeover programs,
the Biggest Loser, and they used to have
of all kinds of shows, where they transform someone. Of course, they use a personal coach, a personal cook, you take
a year off from work, you work out six times a week [laughs], but nevertheless, some people have some amazing transformations, right? They lose a lot of, lot of weight, and then, of course, they
have someone comes in and redoes their hair, their makeup, they get rid of their T-shirts and they put on a nice shirt,
and so on and so forth, and then, the money shot is at the end when they say, "And
now," they show a picture of the before and say, "And here's," whatever, "Clarissa," or "Joe," and Joe comes out, everybody goes, "Wow! "Whoa!" And Joe has a new attitude. And yet, it's the same
old Joe in here, isn't it? But because there's been
a change on the outside. You see, Joe is talking
with a lot more confidence, he's not afraid anymore
to walk up to a girl and ask her for a date. That's usually the whole idea behind it. Of course, I once saw a program that followed these
people, these contestants, two years later, and the sad thing is, many of them have, kind of, gone back to their old ways. Why? [groaning] Because it's
the same Joe on the inside. So, Paul, what he's saying here is, the thing that you put on, Christ, that completely transforms,
not just the outside, it transforms the inside. So, Paul says that the Church is obliged not to live as the pagans live, but rather live like Christ would live. And this new righteous, or holy lifestyle, has several recognizable features. So now, in verses 25 and forward, he talks about the features
of this righteous life. What does it look like? Well, first of all, he says, these people who are walking in a righteous lifestyle,
have a proper attitude towards other people. In this section he gives a list, not a complete list, but a list of attitudes that immediately identify a person who is of the household of faith, someone who lives righteously. So, let's go to chapter four, verse 25. And he says: Therefore,
laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of
you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another. So, the proper attitude towards others, this is a sub-idea, here. What is one of those proper
attitudes? Sincerity. Be honest with everyone about everything because dishonesty breaks
ties, it destroys unity. In a marriage, in a friendship, especially in the Church. What is another feature of this
new attitude towards others? Verse 26 and 27, he says: BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. So, another feature is peacefulness. Peacefulness. It's
impossible to avoid anger. You can't avoid anger;
it's a human emotion. It's actually dangerous to [gulping] swallow down anger all the time. You'll get an ulcer.
You'll have a heart attack. And some people are more prone to anger than others. Some people, their character, just the way they're put together, it's easy for them to be angry, it's how they react to things. Some people, something bad happens, or whatever, their reaction is they pull away, or they turn away, or they kind of isolate themselves. Other people, when things go wrong, what do they do? They blow up. They puff up in anger. So, it's impossible to avoid anger, but a child of God always works towards peace, as a first priority. And this idea, don't let the
sun go down on your anger, this doesn't mean you have to have closure within 24 hours. I used to think that,
and it'd keep my wife up until four o'clock in the morning, talking, talking, talking. She'd say, "Good, can't we just talk "about it tomorrow?" [laughs] It doesn't mean you have to get closure before the end of the day, it's an expression that means: Do not let anger go beyond its time. Solomon says there's
a time for everything. There's even a time for anger. And Paul is saying, but don't let anger go beyond its time. It's normal, it's natural
for people to get angry and upset at stuff that happens, but let anger only have its time. Some people live in anger. I mean, they're just, they use anger as a club to beat other people with, they use anger to get their way, and so on and so forth. He's saying, it's normal to be angry, it happens to everybody,
but let's allow anger just to have its time. And your goal is to do what? To work towards peace. In the midst of your anger
you're asking yourself, "What should I be doing as a Christian?" The answer Paul says: You
should be working towards peace. What must I do to work towards peace? To work myself out of this anger. In verse 28, same idea, he says: Let him who steals steal no longer; but rather he must labor,
performing with his own hands what is good, in order
that he may have something to share with him who has need. So, another feature of this new lifestyle, if you wish, is responsibility, proper attitude towards others that demonstrate righteousness. You are a responsible person, be a giver, not a taker. Saints work to give, not to hoard. Verse 29, again, we
can spend a lot of time on each, but verse 29 says: Let no unwholesome word
proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is
good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear. Gracious speech, what Christians say is said to build the
Body, not tear it down. If what comes out tears
down, don't say it. Just don't say it. Someone says, "Oh, but
I have such a hard time. "I have a critical nature. "How do I deal with that?" Just stop talking [laughs]. If that's the only thing that comes out of your mouth, is criticism, then just don't talk. Don't say anything. You know the old adage
that your mother told you. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. That was a wise adage that my mother said to me quite often. In verse 30, it says: And do
not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and
wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from
you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ
has also forgiven you. So, you're responsible, a gracious speech, another feature of the Christian walk, and how we deal with other people, and then, mercy, how we
deal with other people in a merciful way. The Holy Spirit is given to us to help us grow and to encourage and serve others to
grow in unity and love. When the Church is involved in bitterness and anger, exasperation, strife, and harsh speech against others, it frustrates the work of the Spirit because the Spirit is there to help the Church grow in Christ. Disagreements and offenses are bound to rise up, but the proper response in the Spirit for the Church is mercy, and forgiveness, and kindness, always remembering that this is the way God treated the Church. When I'm being critical
of someone or something, I have to bring myself back and say, "Okay, how did God treat me, now? "Let me think back of what I used to do. "How has God treated me?" Or, "How would I like to be
treated in this situation? "What would I want?" Well, you know what? 100 times out of 100, I
would want mercy [chuckles]. I would want understanding. I would what someone to see the dumb, selfish, immature thing that I've done, and give me a break, and
give me a second chance. So, God is simply saying through Paul, that's how you ought to treat others. Nothing new, there's nothing new, here, that would, there's no big
revelation as Christians. And so, the first recognizable
feature of righteousness is the way that members treat
each other in the Church. John 13:35, This is how all men will know that you are my disciples, in the way that you love one another. All right. Another feature
of righteous living. So, one feature of righteous living is how we treat each other,
and I've given you some of the, peacefulness,
gentleness, mercy... Okay, another feature of righteous living, he begins in chapter five. Another feature of righteous living is a higher quality of life. In the previous paragraph, Paul focuses on relationships and how righteous people treat one another. Again, it's not an exhaustive list. It's just, for example,
this is how we ought to treat each other. In chapter five, he will target the Christians' personal conduct, and how this conduct must
rise above the believers' conduct if it is to be seen as righteous. Now, remember, to be seen
as righteous by whom? By other people. We're seen as righteous
by God because of Christ. God is not looking at how we've managed to achieve honesty, or
hospitality, or kindness. He's not measuring those levels and saying, "Well, I
don't know if the level "is high enough for this
guy to come to heaven." When God looks at us, He sees Christ. It's the whole point
of the death of Christ, the whole point of the
shedding of His blood, the whole imagery of
baptism, dying to self, resurrecting to a new life. When God sees us He sees us through mercy. This righteous life is not to impress God because He knows exactly what we're like. This righteous life is
lived to give a witness to other people, that they
might be drawn to Christ. And so, he's going to target the
Christians' personal conduct, as I say, and how this
conduct needs to rise above. So, let's start, chapter
five, verses one and two. He says: Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you
and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice
to God as a fragrant aroma. So, he summarizes the [mumbles] by comparing everything down to one word, or compressing everything
down to one word: love. If you've been in my classes before on Paul's Epistles, you realize that this is something that he does, a device that he uses,
he explains something in detail, like he
telegraphs it ahead of time, saying, "This is what
I'm going to talk about." He gives all the details,
and then he switches gears, he compresses everything down to one word, and then he uses that word as a bridge to get to his next idea. And that's exactly what he's done, now. He says: If you love, by treating others with mercy, and gracious speech, and so on and so forth, then, you're walking like Christ. And if Christ's life was
like a pleasing sacrifice to God, then you're imitation of Him in your own life, will also be a similar, sweet offering to God. Now, in the following verses, he'll show how very different a Christian and a Church member's
conduct is from unbelievers. He likens the difference between the two as the difference between light and dark. So, chapter five,
beginning in verse three. He says: But do not let
immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among the saints. There should not even be a suggestion that things are improper,
are happening among you, whether it be for fornication,
or impurity, or greed. Avoid even things that appear, or may be interpreted as being unworthy of someone who is a saint. This is the hardest thing
to teach young people. It's the hardest thing
to teach young people. It's a subtle idea. When my children were growing up, they were to go to a certain concert, or do certain things, I'd say, "I don't think
that's a good idea." "Why? Everybody else is going!" And I said, "Well, because
that's not something "that gives a good
witness of who you are." "Oh, Dad [mumbles]." Very hard. And it's very hard for many
Christians to understand. Have this discussion all the time about gambling, going
to the casino, uh oh, I'm in trouble now. And people say, "Oh,
there's nothing to it. "We go to the casino." I say, "Yeah, sure, what
a witness. Way to go! "I'm sure everybody who's there "that knows that you're a Christian "are really impressed
with your righteousness. "Terrific. Go ahead." "Oh, but I only take ten bucks. "I only put ten bucks
in. I only spend $20.00." "Yeah, sure, wonderful, $20.00, yeah." It's a hard concept to understand. We, many times, do not want to give up our small little pleasures,
and that's what it is, a small little pleasure, in the service of righteousness. Very hard concept to understand. I'm not picking on you guys who go to the casino, I'm just sayin'... Well, maybe I am picking on you guys who go to the casino. No one in this room is doing that, but if you know of anyone, please let them know about this, okay? So, verse four, he continues, he says: And there must be no
filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. When saints are together they must not act like the Gentiles, but
rather act like the saints. That isn't hypocrisy. We're hypocrites if we act like the world when in reality we are saints. That's hypocrisy. So, he talks about three things. He talks about filthiness,
well, indecency, things that are indecent. Don't talk about things that are indecent. And silly talk, empty talk, talk that's devoid of truth. In this case, what Paul is talking about here, probably, superstition and things like that. And course jesting,
dirty talk, nasty talk. These things, he says, has no place among those who call themselves holy. I hear people, sometimes, workmen, that would come into the building, in the past, when we
were doing construction, and some guy would curse, [cries out], something would go wrong, and let out a curse word or something and the other worker would say, "Hey, we're in the church building." Or, they'd curse in front of me. And say, "Hey, the preacher." And I'd say, "Hey, that's not my language, "that's your language." You don't have to apologize to me; you didn't take my name in vain. Paul is saying your language should be the same when you're in church or out of church, same thing. And then, in verse five, it continues, and he says: For this
you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure
person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. These things are not of
saints, but of Gentiles. And you know that the Gentiles are damned. Why act like them? Verse six and seven, need to move along. He says: Let no one deceive
you with empty words, for because of these things
the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them. Don't be talked into participation. It is for these very kinds of sins that God will punish the Gentiles. So, don't participate with them or you will participate with them in the punishment, as well. So, we keep moving along, verse eight. Verse eight, he says: for
you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light. Remember who you are when
pressured to participate with those who what to do
the deeds of the flesh. You're of the Light, not of the darkness. Make sure you are of the Light. Verse nine: for the fruit
of the Light consists in all goodness and
righteousness and truth. You are children of God. You do not produce
darkness, you produce light. The thing that comes from you is Light. The thing that emanates
from you is goodness, and truth, and righteousness,
and proper living; that's what comes forth from you. If the guys don't what to invite you to the casino because you,
"Ah, don't even ask him. "He's going to say no,
I don't participate. "He's going to make us feel guilty." If that's how they talk about you, good for you! If you're at the shop and somebody goes, [mumbling] "Oh, sorry, man, sorry." If that's the way they treat you, they don't want to talk
dirty in front of you, good for you! It means the Light is emanating from you, and the darkness doesn't want to even come close to the Light. Good for you! You've made a witness
without saying a single word. Verse 10 goes on, chapter five, verse 10: Trying to learn what is
pleasing to the Lord. On the contrary. Try to find out how to please the Lord, not how to grieve the Spirit. Try to find out what more you can do, not how you can cut corners in Christ. What's the limit?
Where's the line for sin? Just so many people, they just want to get up to the line for sin,
and stop right there. Why do that? I would encourage you to
stay as far back as you can. Verse 11 and 12, he says: And do not participate in the
unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are
done by them in secret. Be aggressive. Don't participate. Expose them. Rebuke their sin. Some things are too shameful to mention. Why discuss it? Verse 13: But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that
becomes visible is light. You're the light. Then, don't
hide the light of truth. Use it to bring everything into the light. A lot of different ideas, here, but one idea is that when you bring the deeds of darkness into the light, it is motivation for sinners to become children of Light, themselves. Because the first step, why
do you think Peter said, "Repent and be baptized." Why did he say repent first? Because unless you understand
that you're a sinner, that you break God's laws, you don't want to be baptized, you don't want the new life. So, as children of Light, we're shedding light on
the dark deeds of others. It's okay. It's not being
hypocritical or judgemental. It's the way that they
will see the wrongness in their lives and,
hopefully, seek for the Truth. Verse 14, he says: For
this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, "And arise from the dead, "And Christ will shine on you." This little passage here may be an early Christian poem, or song,
expressing the power of Light of Christ, on the sinner, and the mentioning of this, what Paul, and the summarizing, what Paul has said in this section, so
you know how a preacher finishes with a poem, sometimes? He's finishing this section, here, with a poem, to summarize. So, righteousness is also evident from personal conduct
that is in direct contrast to the world, that's one form, and also, a weakness to its sinfulness. So, the saved are special
and they walk differently. The walk in unity. They walk
in holiness or righteousness. The righteous, or the
righteousness, rather, that Paul says is noticeable, in that, first of all, it
is a complete transformation from the old way of life. And this righteousness,
remember the summary now, God has given you all these things, He saved you, He's shown mercy, so on and so forth, therefore, because He's done that,
then there's a response that comes from you. And what we've read here, is
the details of the response. And basically, is you're responsible to live a righteous life. And this righteous life
has certain features, number one: It's filled with kindness, and compassion, and forgiveness, and love towards others. And then, number two: It is total, living in the light
without even a suggestion of impurity in words and actions, how you treat each other, and how you live your life before Christ. This type of living inevitably lights up all the darkness around it, therefore, creating light where there was darkness. All right, so we're going to
continue on with this idea. He brings out some more ideas, if God did this, this
should be your response. So, there are other
responses, he continues on.
